What should Landlords do to encourage Tenants to stay longer??

nzseries1

Agree with Brallaqueen - the number one thing they could do is ditch the letting agent. A lot of the time, especially in London, it's in the agent's best interest to have a high tenant turnover.

I got a bottle of wine from my private LL last year. It was a nice touch and made me feel good.

nzseries1

G_M wrote: »

Just to go off on a slight tangent: what are tenants' views on agents?
Do you prefer renting via a letting agent or direct from a landlord?

I hate agents. Hate hate hate hate agents.

In my renting life of 12 years, I have had 7 private landlords, and never had one single problem.

On the other hand, I have had 4 agents, and 3 out of 4 have been nightmares - false promises, poor contact, constant lies, huge fees, bullying.

That might not be the views of all tenants, but it's certainly my view. I'm prepared to take almost any property from a private LL, but from an agent it better be damn good.

Yellowstar_2

G_M wrote: »

Just to go off on a slight tangent: what are tenants' views on agents?

Do you prefer renting via a letting agent or direct from a landlord?

Comments in posts above have suggested agents focus on fees (esp renewal fees) rather than good relations, but some tenants are suspicious of 'amateur' DIY landlords.

And who is easier to contact for repairs? An agent or a LL?

My previous landlord ditched the (useless) agents as soon as he could after we'd moved in. The landlord was good, and very reasonable. Except when the boiler broke down and he was out of the country - he didn't tell us he was going to be away and left no-one for us to contact in his absence. But he got it fixed promptly when he returned (2 weeks later, in Januray). In that situation it would have been good to have had an agent (or just someone else) we could call...

But... I've been wholly unimpressed by all the agents who've managed other properties I've lived in. We've had problems with bathroom applicances (water supply), kitchen applicances, windows, doors, agent's dodgy (non-Corgi-registered, come round to do the gas safety check I insisted on after the CO detector started beeping) contractors, their staff, and have received nasty letters for the non-paymnet of rent which we paid on time and they set up the standing order. My impression is that they're after their fee and really keen on letter writing, but otherwise not up to a whole lot. But maybe that's just my experience?

I am uneasy about renting from individual landlords. But looking at what I've written - my experience of agents has been FAR FAR worse. So perhaps I should change my outlook!

PoisonIvy

^^^^
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What nzseries1 says x 1000. I've rented in London for 16 years and my experiences with agents have been nothing short of awful on every occasion. I hope to buy a place soon, but if I find myself renting again, I will always go privately. My current landlady is absolutely lovely. For example:

- refunded money from the first months' rent because some work needed to be finished in the kitchen (minor repairs - I tried to refuse the refund but she insisted)
- left a bottle of wine and a welcome card when we moved in
- sent a friend round with keys when I locked myself out in my nightgown while she was on holiday, and wouldn't let me reimburse her for the taxi.
- happy for us to redecorate as long as we restore it to normal
- repairs carried out quickly, and if there's delays she lets us know why immediately.
- offered to upgrade the alarm system because our cats kept setting it off
- lets us have cats!
- just a very nice person to deal with in general

Agents, on the other hand are expensive (a fee just to renew? WHY?), unresponsive, and you never get the same person twice.

Annisele

As a T, my top three things would be:

1. Ditch the agent.
2. Return my calls about broken boilers etc (I don't expect a fix to happen instantly, but I do expect to be kept in the loop about what's happening)
3. When you want to visit, call me so we can find a mutually convenient time - don't just announce that you'll be there a 7pm on Sunday.

It's obvious why I want 2 and 3. 1 is so I don't panic on receiving an "eviction notice" that my LL knew nothing about...(my LL was even more annoyed than I was about that).

thegirlintheattic

1) Allow pets, own decoration
2) Agree to 12 month leases
3) Invest more into security - better doors/alarm system

Callie22

1. Make sure repairs are done in a reasonable time, and keep me as a tenant informed about what's happening. As an example, in one house I lived in we had a major leak, not our fault, just one of those things. It took our landlady well over a year to get someone in to repair the damage, and then a job that we were told would take eight days stretched to five weeks, leaving us without a kitchen or living room and a filthy house. Even at the end of five weeks, there were still jobs like tiling to be done. The landlady's attitude to us was awful - we weren't told what was happening or who would be coming round or when, no offer of rent back for the inconvenience and no apologies for the mess or trouble. Needless to say that was the main reason why we left the property.

2. Kind of leading on from 1, but it would be great to know that my LL feels that I'm a good tenant. I'm not saying that rent should be reduced, but even a simple acknowledgement that the house is clean and well-looked after, or that the garden is looking tidy, would be really lovely.

3. A bit of flexibility on personalising the house. I don't mean in a 'can I paint the living room purple' way, but in a 'can I hang a picture'/'put a smoke alarm up' without risking my deposit way.

4. And lastly - a realistic view of their property. Most rentals aren't great (sorry, but in my experience that's the case) and a lot of LLs seem to have a bit of an unrealistic view of how great their properties are. If it's not a palace, I'd rather the LL admitted it and charged a realistic rent than charge the earth and try to keep my deposit at the end of the tenancy for made up stuff.

As for agents, I hate them. My main bugbears are:

Filthy properties - every house I've ever moved into via an agent has been filthy. I hate this, especially when you've had to jump through hoops and pay thousands of pounds to move in. It really sets things off on a sour note - I appreciate that this isn't all the agent's fault but it really winds me up and is a real indication of the 'it's good enough for tenants' attitude.

Fees, fees, fees - I really wouldn't be surprised if agents started to hand you a coin-operated oxygen mask at the start of the tenancy and made you pay for breathing too ....

Inspections - I accept that when a LL gets an agent the agent has to carry out certain duties, and I accept that properties need inspecting. But my current agency is really excessive - inspections every ten weeks or so - and I find it intrusive and insulting, especially when the house is clearly very clean and tidy and the LL isn't exactly rushing to do maintenance ...

Rudeness and lack of knowledge - Most LAs are really, really ignorant of the law and don't like it if you know better. This lack of knowledge combined with the sense of power they have can be a really unpleasant combination, especially if you're the tenant on the receiving end of it.

shortdog

I reckon the best thing a landlord can do is be friendly and approachable. My last landlord was brilliant, I lived in the house for 2 1/2 years, only reluctantly moving as the property became too small for us. I could ring my landlord at any time for anything, and repairs were done quickly and properly. He also gave me a bit of free rein as far as DIY etc went, and laughed when my daughter decided to paint the pale brown carpet bright red and orange! (luckily it came out after a lot of scrubbing!)
On the other hand, when I had a leak in the roof (which was fixed promptly), which caused the living room wallpaper to peel off, I lived with it for a few months as I knew he was battling cancer and din't need hassle from me - I rung his wife to let her know what was happening, and told her that it could be sorted whenever.
My current landlord is a really good friend, who lets me do whatever I feel like (and, yes, I have permission to paint the living room black with purple spots if I want!) as she knows the rent is paid on time every month, and the house is looked after.

Lokolo

thegirlintheattic wrote: »

1) Allow pets, own decoration
2) Agree to 12 month leases
3) Invest more into security - better doors/alarm system

From an outside of view of neither renting or being a landlord I find this a little contradictory. If someone wants a short term lease (which 12 months is imo), they can't expect to have extras such as pets and decorating themselves.

If someone agreed to a 2-3 year lease, then I would quite happily allow them to decorate, have pets etc. as they will want to make them have a home. But with a 12 month lease, they could paint the whole house red, leave after 12 months, then the landlord is stuck with an ugly looking house with no tenants and going to have to repaint to get anyone in.

lynzpower

Brallaqueen wrote: »

I think this is where even the best agents do landlords a disservice - the middleman with an eye for profit from both sides is never going to cultivate a relationship with tenants the same way that a landlord would. A high turnover equials more profit for them in letting fees, reference fees and so on.

Actually I dont agree with this (and I never thought I would see the day) Our LA doesn't charge us new tenancy costs every time. I get the sense from LA ( actually v small 2 person little LA) that its easier with the likes of us than other types of tenants.

We have never met our landlord ( hes overseas) but the letting agents he uses have been just fantastic to us so far.

Its clear that the Letting agent has a good level of negotiation with the LL as there is no question as to any works that need to be done, they will be done, we have not needed to push, hassle or demand.

The extractor fan in the bathroom went ( suddenly stopped working) and the trades guy was round the same day to sort it out.

They organise the gas safety, Ive seen electrical certs, they tell me way in advance when things are due and make arrangements.

They never come in unannounced and it never feels like its anyone elses place but ours which is really nice.

The proof will be on check out I suppose but any legitimate damage we caused we will be happy to pay for, its only fair.